If you don't Love me Now
by scrapingskies
Summary: Collection of one-Shots based of my Peter Parker/OC story 'Hidden in Plain Sight.' Not in any chronological order and contains pretty much anything from fluff to angst. Suggestions are welcome!
1. Swimming Pool

**A/N: So, I remember ages and ages ago I said I was going to do a one-shot spin-off series and I just… didn't. Lol. But here I am! I got in the mood for writing a scene between Peter and Adara and this just appeared on the page. It's not anything exciting, just a nice moment between these two dorks who both have my heart. I figured I would upload this considering I was posting a short, teaser for Endgame on the main story anyway. Anyway, let me get into a bit more explanation.**

**So, this is going to become a one-shot series I update every once and a while, probably more often over this GCSE period when I can't really write Endgame (as there's no script online). Plus, I've got a lot of ideas for one-shots that I want to write. I've got ideas for a couple of Hydra ones, a couple of action ones and ones between Adara and various Avengers. BUT, if any of y'all have any ideas or suggestions for chapters then PLEASE review and tell me because I totally want to give y'all something for all the support you've given me on Hidden Plain Sight! **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this absolutely adorable one-shot (btw it's set after the Abaddon arc but before the Adara mind-wipe arc)!**

* * *

**Swimming Pool**

_Oscorp Tower_

_December 2016_

Adara picked up the knife and held it up so the light coming from her desk lamp and squinted. It glinted and she noticed there was a scratch on its surface. Sighing, she put it back on the desk along with the cloth she had been wiping it with. It had been a brutal fight, an ex-Hydra member turned hitman. She had been attempting to tracking him down for a while, her and Harry had been pulling all nighters for a shred of intel. Adara had recognised him as one of the men who had trained her how to use a knife. So, that meant, when they finally came face-to-face, fighting him had been near impossible, they were almost evenly matched. But she had managed to get the upper hand when she had twisted his arm and stabbed him in the gut.

He had been arrested and she was left with nothing but a flesh wound where he had almost stabbed her on the side. Nothing she couldn't heal within an hour, now there wasn't even a scar there anymore.

She glanced at the time, half past two. She should probably get to sleep. Then again, despite her exhaustion from fighting, she couldn't bring herself to get into bed. Maybe it was her being silly, maybe it was seeing a familiar Hydra face. Either way, sleep wouldn't come easy tonight. Sighing, she contemplated the matter, picking up the knife and fiddling with it in her hand. She did have school tomorrow, and late nights left her more prone to falling asleep in Math, which never made Mr Birling happy, not that he liked her much in the first place.

Noise.

She jumped to her feet, knife in her hand. Where had that come from? She turned to glance out her window, but saw nothing but the bright lights of Queens and Manhattan across the river. She was high that she pretty much had a view of everything. Yet, whatever had caused the noise must've come from inside.

She walked over to her desk drawer where she kept the 'emergency gun' and crept towards the door that led to the corridor. She cracked it open, careful not to make a sound as she peeked around. No one.

For a second, she was confused. Had she imagined it?

Then.

"Pst, Dara," whispered someone from above.

She turned and pointed her gun at the ceiling before her eyes adjusted.

"Pete?!" She said in a shouty-whisper, "what the hell? Did you break in?"

"Harry's window was open," he said, dropping off the ceiling, "you can stop pointing the gun at me now."

"Oh, right," she clicked on the safety and glanced back at him, "what are you doing? It's, like, two in the morning."

"Well," he pulled off his mask, "I was just finishing a late-night patrol and saw something and got a great idea. I figured you'd be up because… well…"

"I usually am," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Well, what's the great idea?"

"I saw a public pool and figured me… you…" he mimed what could've been either front crawl or breaststroke, either way the technique was rough.

"Go swimming?" She blinked, "what is this? A teenage rom-com? It's two o'clock in the morning, Pete, what's the point of breaking into swimming pools?"

"Because it's fun and neither of us were getting to sleep anyway."

She looked at him, long and hard. Even in the dark light, her green eyes were still as vivid as ever.

"Okay, fine," she nodded, "I'm convinced. Plus, I get a kick out of breaking the law. Let me get my suit."

* * *

"The Bluebell. Infiltrator, shapeshifter and superhero extraordinaire that can break and sneak into anywhere without problem meets her greatest enemy: The swimming pool window."

"Shut the fuck up," she hissed, though they were both only joking.

"I can just smash the window."

"No way, that's property damage."

"I thought you got a kick out of breaking the law."

"Didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up?"

He laughed.

The two of them were on the roof of the public pool, standing on a glass roof. Adara was currently trying to pick the lock to one of the window so the two of them could slip in without an issue however, she wasn't doing a great job. The lock was harder than any lock in any Hydra base. It didn't help that her hands were shaking thanks to the fact that she was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt (listen, she wasn't expecting to be stuck on a roof, failing to unlock a window). Peter was sitting next to her, holding his mask in one hand and watching her in amusement as she struggled. He was no help at all

She felt something click and leant down as she twisted her lockpick.

Suddenly, the window turned open and she slipped right through.

"Woah!" She yelled before someone caught her by the ankle.

"How's it hanging?" Peter asked, looking down at her, his hair flopping in his face as he grinned like an idiot.

"Enjoying the view?" She retorted, folding her arms as she dangled upside down.

"Why are you wearing shorts anyway?"

"Why are you wearing red tights?"

"I can drop you, you know."

"Hey, no wait-"

Peter took them both down smoothly using a one of his webs and down to the pool. It was deathly quiet, and all the overhead lights were off. It was almost pitch black. She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone, turning on the torch as she got a better look around. She spotted the 'employees only' room and gestured for Peter.

"Hey, can you break the lock?"

"What happened to not damaging property?"

"I'm inconsistent as a person."

Her twisted the handle violently enough that there was a snap, and the door swung gently open. She used the torch to find what she was looking for.

"Here," she said, opening the electric box, "hey, Pete, which one is for the swimming pool light?"

He gave her a look, "the one marked 'swimming pool light.'"

"Oh, right."

She flicked it on and, when they walked back into the pool area, it was lit by a cool, blue hue. She kicked off her trainers and dipped her toe in. Mild, not too cold but not too warm.

"The water's fine."

She turned to glance at Peter who had pressed the middle of his suit, so it suddenly went loose and crumpled to the floor, leaving him in just swimming shorts. He was sorting his suit out and probably didn't notice her staring. God, he was fit. Muscled arms, sculptures abs and defined shoulder muscles. If he weren't a sixteen year old boy, she thought, he could easily be on the cover of a GQ magazine or something. His hair was a mess too, his so-called 'mask hair.' He hated it, but she would often mess his usually neatly brushed hair on burbles because she thought it looked cuter.

"Dara?"

"Huh," she was snapped back to reality, "what?"

"Something distracting you?" He raised an eyebrow.

If it hadn't been for the dark lighting, he would've seen her cheeks go pink as she crossed her arms over her chest. Then, an idea struck her and she pulled off her t-shirt and shorts. Now she was just in her bikini which, admittedly, she did feel a little self-conscious about. Not because of her weight or anything (she was a shapeshifter, after all) but of the scars that sat on each shoulder. Two gunshot wounds after two separate encounters with Hydra, neither of which she seemed to be able to heal. They were scars permanently etched into her skin.

Peter, on the other hand, didn't think Adara had any need to be self conscious, not that she was visibly showing that she was. She had long, tanned legs and more than healthy skin. While she wasn't ripped like Peter was, she still had the lines of a six pack on her stomach and strong muscles on her back and arms. Yet, she was also fairly curvy, it was hard for him not to stare for too long.

She took a step closer, "guess we're both easily distracted."

"I guess so," he took a step forward too.

The two couldn't help themselves, the heat rising from both their faces, as he gripped her hand and pressed his lips against hers.

God, so many people would be pissed if they could see her now. Steve and Nat would've been furious knowing that Adara had broken into a public pool and, now, while practically naked, was making out with a boy who was also nearly naked. Luka and Hydra? Well, they'd be shaking in heir boots to see their project so far fallen from grace. Besides, if she knew that this would piss off a group of nazis led by her more than abusive father, then all the more reason to do it.

And who could blame them? As Peter squeezed her she and wrapped his other arm around her waist while she cupped his face with both her hands, bodies pressed close to one another. While both were experienced, neither were mature. They were just a pair of teenagers who had broken into a swimming pool and were making out. It was almost normal, the rule breaking, the snogging. Even though Peter's suit was just in the corner, their superhero lives felt so far away in that moment as the she staggered backwards, still gripping him.

When her foot slipped, she didn't let go and pulled him down into the pool with her. As they were plunged in, there was confusion as both suddenly came swimming right back up to the surface. Peter coughed and sputtered for a moment, rubbing the water out of his eyes while Adara grinned at him like an idiot.

"Smooth," she remarked.

"You dragged me in," he accused.

She lay on her back, using her legs to kick herself so she drifted slowly away from him. "I was falling in myself," she said, "we both go down together, don't we?"

"What if I couldn't swim?"

"Well, then I'd ask why you took us to a public pool. Besides, obviously you can as you're treading water without issue."

"It was hypothetical."

She obviously wasn't listening anymore as she began doing backstroke with a technique elegant enough to be an Olympian swimmer (not that Peter knew how good you had to be that).

"Hey," she asked, "where did you learn to swim?"

"Ben paid for lessons for a bit before he decided he could do a better job himself for free. He and May taught me together, which wasn't great because neither agreed with each other on what technique was better." Peter swam over to where she had stopped to laze around on her back. "Where did you learn?" He asked.

"Well, it was Hydra mainly," She said. "Only about a month after kidnapping me, they threw me into a lake to see how long I would last. It was freezing and the water was dark, I nearly drowned. Luka had to come get me and he was pissed for days, probably didn't help that that I got hypothermia either. I learnt to deal with it after the next several times they chucked me in" Despite it being probably a traumatic memory, she spoke casually.

"Then," she continued, "Nat and I used to have swimming races at the pool in the compound. She used to win until I got better, though she never admitted to losing, said I cheated and stuff."

"Well, you do fight dirty."

"Don't defend her," she looked at him, "she's not even here."

"I could beat you in a race," he pointed out.

"Well, obviously," she said, "you're enhanced and stuff so you can swim faster than me."

"So you admit I'm better?"

"Not at everything, you're just _probably _faster. Besides, I can beat you in a fight any day."

He laughed.

She glared, "I used to beat you every time we trained together. I know you had your enhanced powers at the time, even if I didn't realise it back then."

"I had to hold back," he said, a cocky look on his face, "I'm strong, so I pretty much could've punched your jaw off. So I had to go easy on you."

She laughed, almost in disbelief, "punch my jaw off? I'd like to see you try, Parker. You certainly didn't beat me at the airport fight and I _know _you weren't holding back that time."

"I had you pinned before I realised who you were."

"I could've got out of it."

"But you didn't. Face it, Dara, you can't beat me in hand to hand."

It sounded like they were arguing, though it was more like a competition they were bickering over, almost like who had the biggest dick. It was more light hearted banter than anything else, they were both stubborn people.

"In the real world, Pete, people don't fight hand to hand," she rolled her eyes, "they use knives and guns."

"Well, even if you did have a knife or a gun, I could still beat you. Plus, you don't have any weapons on you now so if we were to fight then- ADARA!"

She had pulled a switchblade out of her bikini top clicked the blade up, grinning like an idiot, "I always keep one in my bra. The only way you're ever gonna catch me unarmed is completely naked. So, Pete…" She trailed off but the look on her face said enough.

"Stop it," he said, now blushing.

She laughed, "I'm teasing."

"You're not funny."

She smiled, "no I think I am. Hey-!"

He splashed water at her and she rubbed her eyes, glaring at him as he laughed at her.

"Oh, you're in for it now, Spider-Idiot."

* * *

It could've been an hour later or maybe a few more, neither were sure, but both were out the water. Peter was rubbing his hair with a towel and noticed he now stunk like chlorine. Man, he was going to need to shower before he got back otherwise May would figure out what he'd been up to. He glanced to the side and noticed Adara sitting at the edge of the pool, her feet dipped in as she kicked the water gently, staring into space. She had a towel wrapped around her but her hair was still dripping wet onto her shoulders, obviously she was making no attempt to dry herself.

He walked over to her, sitting down cross-legged beside her.

"What's on your mind?"

"Huh?" She looked back at him.

"Obviously you're thinking about something, so what's up?"

"Can't I have my thoughts to myself?"

"If you want."

God, she looked beautiful. Even in the dim light, he couldn't help but stare. Her features were highlighted by the blue glow of the pool, eyes soft and round yet troubled all the same.

She must've decided against keeping it to herself as she sighed and stared back out across the pool, "Pete, where do you see us in, I don't know, ten years?"

He blinked, "I don't know, I haven't really thought about. Graduated from college, probably. MIT, hopefully. And, I don't know, maybe we'd have an apartment together, in New York."

"Together?"

"You're in my future, Dara," he said without a hint of doubt in his voice, "I love you."

"What about twenty years?"

"Married, kids, maybe a house."

She looked at him, almost in disbelief, yet there was a smile on her face. "For a superhero, Parker, your ideal vision for the future is shockingly domestic."

"That doesn't have to be our future, Dara," he said, "you don't have to be certain of everything. But if there are two things I know," he looked at her sincerely, "it's that I'll still be Spiderman and I'll still be with you."

Her cheeks felt hot, "you're so certain I'm in that future?"

"One hundred percent."

"I just…" she trailed off, looking for the right words, "I guess I just can't picture it."

"What can you picture?"

"Darkness," she said honestly, "more sadness, more loss. Hydra, Luka, enemies. Domestic life just feels… I don't know… Imposible. At least, for me."

There were a lot of people in the world who didn't think a normal, domestic life suited them. It was true for Peter. If he was happy being a normal teenage boy, he wouldn't have continued being Spiderman. He wouldn't have even bothered when he got bit, or when Ben died or would've just given up when Tony took his suit away. He knew the super life was for him. Yet, at the same time, it didn't mean he didn't want to live a life with Adara. A world where he could be Spiderman and a husband and a father just felt ideal. And, it wasn't far-fetched to someone like him, who had grown up in a domestic household with his happily married aunt and uncle.

It sucked that to someone like Adara, the idea of a normal, domestic life was miles away. The closest she had ever come was with Steve and Natasha, but even then, they were still Avengers and not exactly regular parents.

"Loss?" He prompted quietly.

"I had my parents, lost them thanks to Hydra. I had my friend, James, lost him thanks to Hydra. I had Steve and Nat, lost them thanks to the accords. I have Harry, Tony and you" she said, "and you're one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me and probably ever will. But, I've lost everything so far, who's to say you're not next?"

Peter's heart fluttered "you won't lose me, Dara."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I can see the future," he grinned, "and I know we're both still there in the future."

"Stop being stupid," but she was grinning all the same, "and, for the record, marriage? Kids? Gross. Like I'd want a bunch of toddlers shape-shifting and climbing walls. It would be a nightmare."

"I think you'd make an amazing mom."

"Well, if I'm anything like my father…"

"To be like Luka, you'd have to kill me."

"Well," she shrugged, "who knows? One of these days, if you get on my nerves-" she mimed firing a gun.

"I thought we decided I could beat you in a fight anyway," he raised an eyebrow.

"You decided that," she said, grinning, "now shut it before I shove you back into the pool."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

She was smiling again, he loved that smile, and he couldn't help but blurt out, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said without a second of hesitation.

"And you're not going to lose me," he promised, taking her hand in his and squeezing it in reassurance, "ever. I'll always be with you."

She rested her head against his shoulder, "promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

**A/N: God, I love these two idiots, I've missed writing them.**

**Anyway, PLEASE give me suggestions for any scenes you'd like to see (canon and non-canon). Even if it's just a cute Spiderbell idea or maybe just Adara interacting with another character. As long as it is not Endgame or post-Endgame because I haven't actually written that yet lol. Also probably nothing smutty lol. But really, leave suggestions!**


	2. Caught in the Act

**A/N: Did y'all see the new Far From Home trailer? My original theory was that Mysterio was going to pretend to be good only to, plot twist, be evil. But I'm starting to doubt that as it seems they're introducing the multiverse which could be VERY interesting. Either way, I'm looking forward to writing a friendship between Mysterio and Adara, I feel like that could be a lot of fun (and I love Jake Gyllenhaal soooo). I also garner that the theme of the film is going to be about loss and moving on, which means more character arc writing for Adara (love it). I feel like the biggest change I'm going to have to make is going to have to do with MJ though, but we'll see how that goes. **

**Anyway, this suggestion comes from Robotic Fangirl, who actually suggested two ideas. One of them was this, and the next one I will end up writing in a few chapters time. I've made a note of ideas so the next one will probably be another suggestion but I do have a couple of original ideas that I want to get round to. I'm having a lot of fun writing these one-shots lol. Anyway, enjoy!**

**This is set towards the end of the Adara arc, after Luka's death and features Spiderbell and overprotective parents Romanogers. It was supposed to fluffy and it was, but then it kinda turned a little angsty in a scene between Steve and Adara whoops. It's overall quite an awkward affair.**

* * *

****Caught in the Act (Suggestion by Robotic Fangirl) ****

_Avengers Compound_

_April, 2017_

"So, I guess it's over," said Peter, "Luka is dead, Hydra has been defeated, Ross knows you're the Bluebell and Captain America and his team have to go on the run again. So, the status quo returns."

"Hydra always comes back," said Adara, "maybe not now, maybe not for a while. But, as it goes, cut off one head and-"

"I think we've all heard enough of that for one lifetime," he glanced at her, "besides, we have homework. It is a Tuesday."

The two teenagers were in Adara's room after the meeting with Ross to decide what to do. The Avengers were talking amongst themselves, but had sent the two teenagers up to their room to complete various pieces of homework due in for the next day. Adara didn't really have any homework, she had been in a coma for three months. Now it was just a matter of catching up on everything she missed. It was unfair, it wasn't her fault that her mind had been wiped and her life taken away from her. Yet, here she was all the same, three months behind on all her subjects. It was a good thing she had an intelligent boyfriend because God knows what else she would've done.

Then again, neither of them were doing homework. Despite the reminder from Peter, they both remained sitting there, on the bed, not quite sure of what to do with themselves. They were both tired. Especially Adara who, despite having slept for three months, had never felt more exhausted.

With a sigh, she rested her head against Peter's shoulder.

"I'm glad you came back," he said, resting his own head on top of hers.

"I'm glad I came back too," she murmured.

"Why did you wake up?"

"I don't know," she said, "I just did. I was having a strange dream, and then it ended so I woke up."

"Can you remember anything that happened?"

"When I was wiped? No, nothing. I remember being in the machine and then black and then I was awake. I don't think I'll ever remember."

Even though she didn't say it, he could tell exactly what Adara was thinking.

"You know what happened wasn't your fault."

"No," she sighed, "but it doesn't mean I don't feel bad about it."

He lifted his head and took Adara's face in his hands.

"Listen to me," he said, "do _not _blame yourself."

"What will you do if I kept blaming myself," there was a challenging smirk on her face.

"Then," he said, "you give me no choice but to use my full strength."

"Think you can beat me, Spider-Idiot?"

"I know I can."

"Oh, really- woah!"

He suddenly tackled her down against the bed, pinning her down. She laughed and kicked him in the stomach, rolling away from underneath him. She had managed to kick him off the bed, and he rolled over back onto his feet from the floor, straightening himself up face Adara.

"You want to fight, Parker?" She raised an eyebrow.

He raised an eyebrow, "scared?"

She rolled her eyes and got to her feet. And, before his spider senses could even alert him to what she was doing, she had already leapt on top of him and wrapped her legs around his neck, pulling him straight down to the ground.

She stood over him, "everytime, Pete, you always fall for it."

"It's a dirty move," he argued, looking belligerent.

"And?"

Suddenly, her legs were kicked out from underneath her and, before she hit the floor, he caught her and flipped her over so he was on top, pinning her down by her wrists.

"I win," he said.

"Branleur," she swore at him, but her gaze was light, playful.

God, they were such teenagers. They had hardly been staring at each other for more than two seconds when their mouths were suddenly on each other. Adara's hands were on his face as were his on hers, eyes closed. He ran his fingers through her hair as her hands dropped to the top button of his shirt.

"I love you," he breathed against her.

"I love you too," she said as she undid the top button.

If both of them hadn't been so caught up in the moment, they would've heard the door they accidentally didn't lock opening.

"Adara, we-"

Adara was quick to react, shoving Peter off of her and sitting up straight to see Steve and Natasha both staring at them. Steve looked disbelieving and confused. Natasha just looked shocked though, in the true Black Widow fashion, she also had a fairly smug eyebrow raised.

She glanced back at Peter, who was doing up his shirt, he gave her a panicked look.

Think quick, Adara.

She smiled, "hey, did you want something?"

There was a pause there for a second, as if no one could quite believe the words that came out of her mouth. She realised that it was probably a pretty stupid question but, in all fairness, someone had to say something. So, she kept the smile plastered on her face and kicked Peter, who then smiled also. She could already imagine what they looked like. Two kids, who had just been on top of each other, on the floor, smiling up at them like nothing had happened despite their red cheeks and messed up hair.

Natasha spoke first, "what were you doing?"

"Homework," She answered tentatively.

"Is Peter's nickname 'homework?'"

She glanced back at Peter with clenched teeth, he looked a little afraid. Actually, more than a little. Could she blame him.

"Okay," she said, "I know how this looks."

"Adara," began Steve.

"Oh no," she sighed, "Steve, please, come on-"

"A word," he went on, not really listening to her, "now. Me and you. Private."

Natasha looked at him, Steve looked back. They did that thing again, when they talked with their eyes before she rolled her eyes and walked out, gesturing for Peter to follow her. He gave her a worried glance, she gave him a sympathetic glance. She had no doubt that Natasha would want to talk to him and, while she probably didn't care about these things as much as Steve did, she could be terrifying when she wanted to be.

The door closed behind them.

"Adara," he said, "sit down."

She did and he sat down beside her.

"Be honest with me," he said, "have you had sex with Peter?"

"No," she said, "no, not-" she was about to say yet but stopped herself, unsure of the reaction it would get.

"Were you about to?"

"No."

"Honesty," he reminded her.

She sighed, "I don't know, maybe. We just kinda… started and… I don't know."

"Adara, you're young. Both you and Peter are young and immature."

"I'm not immature."

He ignored this, "I know you're smart enough to make decisions for yourself, I know you're capable to hold your ground, but your still sixteen and you've been through hell."

"Steve, stop it," she said, getting to her feet, "I know you're going to tell me I'm too young to have sex. But I haven't and, to be honest, we probably weren't going to. But if we were, so what? It's none of your business what I do or I don't do with Peter or with any boy."

"I'm just looking out for you," he remained calm, as he always did, in the face of her anger. "You've got to be careful with these things and you're-"

"'Too young?'" she finished for him, folding her arms over her chest.

"I just want to make sure you're not getting pressured into doing something you don't want to."

"It's none of your business," she repeated from earlier, "you're not my dad."

"I'm not," he nodded, letting her continue her rant.

"And- and- you haven't been there," she said, "you haven't been there so what's the matter with what Peter and I do? You and Nat went off and what did I have? Not you, not Nat, I had Peter. So I'm sorry if the thought of having sex with him fills you with rage but you can't stop us. I could've fucked every guy in Queens and you wouldn't have even known because you weren't there." She stabbed a finger at his chest.

He grabbed her wrist. Not forcefully, but gently, looking her in the eye as she took a deep breath, calming down as she realised what she said.

"Sorry, I-" but she didn't really know what to say to justify herself.

"It's okay to be angry Adara," he said, "and you're right. It's not my business, I'm not your dad. But I care. And I just want to make sure that, whatever you're doing, you're okay with it and you're not doing anything you don't want to."

"Peter's not going to force me to do anything," she said sincerely, "and I'm not going to force him to anything either. I love him."

"Are you sure?" He asked. It wasn't doubtful or judging, he was just checking.

"One hundred percent," she looked at her feet. "I'm sorry, I know you and Nat couldn't help going away. I just… I just got heated up. I didn't mean to lash out. But you guys are leaving at the end of the week anyway and it feels like I haven't even seen you and-" her voice got caught in her throat. Screw these emotions, now she was crying. "Sorry, I'm being stupid-"

"You're not being stupid," he said, suddenly pulling her into a hug, "and you're right. Maybe if we were all still together, all living in that house then things would be different but we're not. We have to leave and I can't control your life. I just want to make sure you're okay, that you're happy and you're comfortable."

"I'll be happy when you come home. And, for the record, I guess I do see you see you as a dad." He smiled at that. She pulled out of the hug, keeping her hands on his arms, "also, I have an idea."

"Oh no."

"I turn into the president," she said, "and unsign the accords with Like tip-ex or something. And then declare all the avengers legal and heroes again."

"You're forgetting that it was more than just America that signed the accords."

"Then I'll just shift into every world leader if that's what it takes."

"Adara," sighed Steve.

"I'm kidding," she grinned, "kind of."

"Just be safe."

"I always am."

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the room, Peter Parker was currently being stared down by the Black Widow herself. What did he say? This was one of the most famous heroes and infamous assassins of all time. And she had walked in on Peter making out with who was basically her daughter. Despite how stern and important Captain America seemed, he would rather be told off by him than the blonde assassin who was currently making herself a cup of coffee.

She glanced back at Peter. "You can sit down," she said, looking amused.

"Oh, er, right," he nodded and sat at the kitchen counter.

"You want a drink?" She offered, "coffee? Tea? Soda?"

"No, I'm alright."

She wasn't saying anything. In fact, she was being polite. But Peter's stomach was jolting around like crazy, something was off.

She turned to him as the hot water heated up, arms folded across her chest.

"Tell me, Peter Parker," she said, "have you had sex with Adara?"

Wow, straight to the point.

"Uh, no."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No, ma'am," he was trying his best to be polite but he was terrified.

"Why not?"

_What kind of question is that? _He thought but answered anyway, "I- um- I guess we just don't- don't really want to yet."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

He was sweating now, and his hands were clammy while the blonde assassin very calmly finished making her coffee.

"No, ma'am," he said.

"Do you _want _to have sex with Adara?"

"I-"

"Don't you? Why not?"

"No, I do," he said.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I mean," he stumbled over his words, "I don't know."

"Do you know anything?"

"I don't know," he said, feeling rather panicky.

She paused for a second, taking a thoughtful sip of her coffee, her steely gaze never leaving him as she seemed to judge him. He felt a little like a performer on a talent contest, who was doing a terrible job. Or, like a disappointing circus animal. Either way, the Black Widow's gaze was not making him feel good. He was very afraid that she was to pull out some kind of gun or something.

However, when she took another sip of her coffee, she started laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, smiling, "I know that was mean but, God, it was funny just to see your face. You were terrified!"

Peter's expression, in the last five seconds, had shifted from scared, confused to indignant. He was beginning to find out where Adara got her need to be mean to people from.

"Listen, kid," she said, "I've been here for three months now. Adara came at you with an axe and you were still hesitant to hurt her. I might not understand whatever this teenage love-fest is, but I do know that you love her."

"I don't understand," it was hard to tell whether she was going to make a point or not.

"Listen, if Adara still lived with Steve and I, then it would be different," she said, "and I'm sure Steve isn't happy with the thought of sex. But, then again, he is like a hundred-year-old probably-still-a-virgin." She smirked at him. "Steve and I are leaving at the end of the week. We can try to lay out rules but you're kids and the only guardian you really have is Tony. and I doubt he gives a shit."

Was she saying she was fine with Peter and Adara having sex? God, this was a weird day.

"It doesn't matter what my opinion is," she said, "because I have no control over this situation. But…" he really did not like the way her expression changed when she said 'but,' "just know that if you hurt Adara, upset Adara, break her heart or do anything to her that's cruel, selfish or too teenage boy-ish, I'll find you. Criminal or not, I'll find you and kick your ass. You understand me?" There was a sickly sweet smile on her face.

He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"What was that, sorry?"

"I-I understand," he nodded.

"Good," she let out a sigh of relief, "good to know we're on common grounds here."

She patted Peter on the shoulder and walked out of the kitchen. The moment she was gone, he breathed out a massive sigh and rested his head on the table. That could've gone better, but it could've gone _so _much worse.

Someone put their hand on his back. He jumped before realising it was just Adara, sitting down on the stool next to him.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Been better," he said, "been worse. You?"

"Same here," she nodded.

The two sat in silence for a few seconds.

"I mean," Adara then said, "I've definitely learnt one thing today."

"What?" He looked at her.

"Next time, we lock the door."

* * *

**A/N: Yay! It's done! This chapter was going to go up earlier but then I started binge watching Game of Thrones.**

**Also, adding something about my Far From Home ramblings, it just kind of feels wrong. Mysterio is a good guy that travelled through the multiverse? It doesn't quite sit right with me. Why introduce the multiverse in a Spiderman movie? Why make Mysterio a good guy when he's literally part of the sinister six in the comic. Also, they haven't really shown a proper villain in the trailer other than those elemental things, so maybe the Mysterio plot twist bad guy is still a sound theory. I don't know, it's just me spewing ideas.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one should be up by the weekend (no promises, you should know me by now) but please leave more suggestions for things you want to see! Even if you think it's dumb, I'll probably like it sooo :)**


	3. Just a Cold

**A/N: Not to be a hoe but,,, Jake Gyllenhaal,,, please. Also, something I haven't bought up, I'm a bit of a John Wick stan and I am soooo excited for the third movie. Give me Keanu Reeves beating up people for two hours! Hell yeah! Also I don't know if I've talked about this on here but the His Dark Materials tv show? James Mcavoy? Dafne Keen? Lin Lin Manuel Miranda? Fuck yeah? I mean, seriously, James Mcavoy as Lord Asriel is already going to be my new stan, like that is RIGHT up my alley. **

**So I'm right in the middle of my GCSEs and while I'm tired, I'm not panicking yet. Most of my tests have been okay to good, so I'm quite optimistic but, then again, Chemistry tomorrow morning could ruin it. If anyone else is doing GCSEs, feel free to tweet along with me at cityskyliinee because I'm posting some quality memes. **

**Robotics Fangirl: You're talking about Miraculous Ladybug and yes! I love that show. Though, I haven't really been watching it just kinda keeping up with it to see when the two mains FINALLY hook up. But yeah I think Mysterio could definitely be a Volpina type character, guess we'll have to see. And it does seem strange to introduce the multiverse in a Spiderman movie, especially so suddenly after into the Spiderverse. And yes! I do know the episode you're talking about and I'll definitely get to writing the one-shot,,,,, at some point. Exams are kinda weighing me down but I'll get to it!**

**Anonymous (guest): Thank you! This is so sweet!**

**Guest: Oh my God, thank you so much! I will definitely update Hidden in Plain Sight when my exams are over and then I'll be all over Endgame. I hope this helps keep you occupied in the meanwhile. **

**Wr1ter2: I am actually using this spin-off to kinda develop things that I didn't think were so great about my old stuff and spend more time on arcs I maybe rushed over. Either way, these are a lot of fun to write. Glad you like them!**

**Anyway, sorry this one wasn't a suggestion, the next one definitely will be! This one is set just after the Spiderman Origins arc but before Civil War so neither of them know each other's identity yet. **

* * *

**Just a Cold**

_Midtown High School_

_January 2016_

"Choo!"

"Bless you," said Peter, not looking up from his Spanish work.

"Thanks," said Adara.

She had finished the Spanish translations they were supposed to be doing about five minutes ago and, to be fair to Peter, he wasn't far off finishing either. Miss Garçia was at the front, not really paying attention to Adara who was currently positioning a metal sharpener in front of her, and bending down so she was eye level with it and her target. With close precision, she readied herself and flicked it with her fingers.

"Ow," Harry shot up from where he had been sleeping on the desk, turning around to glare at Adara while rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"It's funny," she shrugged and then sneezed again.

"Bless you," said Peter for the second time, sitting up and giving her a look, "do you have a cold?"

"No," she shook her head, "just a chill. I was out late last night."

"In the snow?"

"Yeah."

She had spent a lot of last night out late, tracking someone who she had suspected to be working for Hydra. However, that had meant she had been caught up in the blizzard that had struck New York City overnight, and it didn't help that she had been on top of a skyscraper with not enough layers. It had been a fruitless mission, and she hadn't discovered whether her target worked for Hydra or not. So, she had come home wet, unhappy and to a rather annoyed Steve and Natasha (in her defense, she had only broken curfew by half an hour). However, after a long, hot shower and a good night's sleep, she had woken up feeling fairly fresh.

Aside from the sneezing and the blocked nose. But she had suffered worse, so she would recover.

"Besides," she said, "I don't get colds."

Peter laughed, "don't be stupid, Dara, everyone gets colds."

"I once spent twenty-four hours lost in the Siberian woods in the middle of winter and I survived. I'm basically immune to colds at this point."

Adara had her secrets, Peter knew that. However, every once and awhile, she would say something that no normal person would've ever experienced and then brush it off when anyone tried to ask questions. He had learnt at this point to let it go, the stories were entertaining anyway.

"Everyone gets colds, Dara," he said, "even you. It's just science."

"I don't understand science, Pete," she said, leaning back on her chair, "therefore it doesn't affect me- choo-"

"Bless you," he said for the third time that lesson, "and that's not how it works."

The bell rang. Good, it was finally lunch, Adara was absolutely starving. Peter and Ned said they were going to the toilet, so Adara and Harry were the only ones at their usual lunch table for a few minutes.

"Did you get information on the Hydra agent?" She asked through a mouth of pasta, speaking fairly openly considering the nosey Michelle wasn't on their table.

He nodded, "he'll be at this charity ball thing tonight. He's on the invitations list along with Jim Levine, who is a tech genius and billionaire. He's had links to other Hydra members in the past before, so I'm guessing the ball is just a location for a meeting to make a deal or something. I mean Levine has technology that's almost good enough to rival Stark industries and Oscorp-" he paused, "but not quite."

"Right," she said, "I'll just wait outside the ball and then confront him when I get a chance."

Harry gave her a look, "is that a good idea? There's another blizzard forecasted tonight, waiting outside for a few hours is only gonna make your cold- sorry- _chill _worse."

"I grew up in Siberia, Harry," she said, "I'll be fine."

"And I grew up in New York City, that doesn't mean I'm immune to hot dog venders."

"That's a really weird comparison."

"It was the first thing that came to my head. But seriously, Adara, maybe just give it a rest for tonight. Hydra's not gonna take over the city just because you didn't manage to get one agent."

"Fine, Harry," she rolled her eyes.

"You won't go?"

"I didn't say _that_, I'll just wear a coat."

* * *

She had, in fact, forgotten to wear a coat but figured she didn't neat it. The Bluebell suit was pretty well heated thanks to Tony, and would probably be enough to get her through the night. Well, at least she hoped so.

The charity ball was being held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a grand affair for the rich and important. In fact, seeing Tony Stark here would be unsurprising. It would be an expensive ball considering it meant shutting down part of one of the most famous art galleries in the world, even just for the night. However, it was also a great location for hiding out, there was a nice rooftop restaurant that was currently closed and empty due to the poor weather, and plenty of cracks and crevices for her to wait for her target.

She had been up here for an hour now, maybe longer, sitting at one of the restaurant tables with a cup of take away coffee and a parasol over her head. And, while in her superhero form, her hair was black to help keep up her cover. She wasn't a patient girl, Steve and Natasha could vouch for that. However, when it came to missions, she was perfectly able to wait for hours or for days. Luka had always insisted that she should wait for nothing and no one, but that she should be patient for the mission.

She looked up at the sky, heavy and grey clouds covered the city's sky. The city, usually lively and bright at the late hours, seemed quieter and more sullen than usual. She stood up, ducking out from underneath the parasol she was sitting under and outstretching her hand. She saw the snowflakes drift onto her hand, not quickly, but the snow was falling faster than it had an hour ago. She checked the weather on her phone, the blizzard was due within the next half an hour or so. She'd better get this cleared up quickly.

However, her patience wouldn't be rewarded as it took another hour for her to spot her target through a foggy haze of swirling snow. She didn't feel the cold just yet as her eyes locked onto him, and she pulled out her knife.

Iosef Pavlov, of Hydra, exited the museum building with his two bodyguards and a sense of pride at the new deal he had just struck with a tech billionaire for more weapons. It was impossible to tell he was from any kind of secret, nazi organisation, with his slicked back hair and smart suit, he blended right in with the charity donors at the ball. However, he was far from generous. Or, arguably, he was the most generous. He was doing imhos part to selflessly build a new world.

But his day was about to be ruined as he stepped out into the snow and discovered his car, a sleek, black Audi, had had its tires slashed.

"Дерьмо," (shit) he muttered to himself, "what fuckin idiot's done this?"

"У нас есть другая машина вокруг блока," (we have another car around the block) said one of his bodyguards.

"Well, bring it here then," he snapped, "and don't take long. It's too cold to fucking wait around."

"да сэр," (yes, sir) the bodyguard nodded and complied, heading over to where they had parked the car.

Meanwhile, Adara, with short, electric, blue hair, was waiting in an alleyway, amongst the shadows and twirling a knife in her hand. She had just slashed the tires of the fancy, black car that belonged to Pavlov and was now waiting for one of his bodyguards to leave to get the second car (though she had slashed the tires on that one too), it would be less of a scene only beating one. Not to mention, it would be difficult to fight in this weather, the snow made it almost impossible to make our anything.

"ACHOO!" She went suddenly.

"будьте здоровы," said Pavlov out of habit, "wait, who was that?"

The remaining bodyguard shrugged, "not me."

He turned around to look down the alleyway, but instead he saw the Bluebell, fully suited up and armed with a knife in her hand smirking.

"Добрый вечер, Pavlov," (good evening) she greeted. "Sorry about the tires, following you by car would've been difficult."

"I've been waiting for this meeting, Bluebell," he nodded, putting his hands into his suit trouser pockets.

"Sure you have," she balanced the tip of the knife on her fingertip. She was just showing off at this point.

"No Hydra agent in the city works without expecting a visit from the Bluebell herself," he said.

"So you've been dreading it?"

"Hoping for it actually," he said, "someone has to remind you of your place."

"You're kidding me," she scoffed, "do you know how many Hydra agents have told me that in the past month alone?!"

"I'm sure it's a lot," he nodded, "because it obviously annoyed you enough to distract you for enough seconds."

Adara turned around just in time to see the bodyguard, who she thought had gone to get the other car, suddenly hit her round the head with a heavy blow.

It was enough to knock her down to the ground, and she must've passed out for at least a second, as the side of her face was suddenly buried in the snow and the world around her was muted. She blinked open her eyes and, thanks to her training, didn't get slowed down by the nauseous feeling that struck her as she grabbed her knife, rolled over and stabbed the bodyguard in the foot.

He might have yelled, but she couldn't hear anything as she pushed herself off the ground and hit him with another stab to the chest. Someone grabbed her arm before she could go at it again but she simply pulled out the other knife she had in her belt and stabbed him in the gut. , twisting the knife just to make it worse.

And, in a matter of a few seconds, Adara Thomas, despite having being hit round the head, had easily taken down two men without a second thought. She had a splatter of blood on her face, which she attempted to wipe away, but only spread it around.

She glared at Pavlov who was slowly backing away, shoving her knives back in her belt.

"I don't mean to ruin your evening," she said, "but don't underestimate me and don't _fucking _hit me around the head when I'm already in a bad mood."

"It was self defence," was he really trying to defend himself? "You were going to kill me."

"Correction, I _wasn't _going to kill you," she said, "I was going to talk to you. Because _my _job isn't just to get rid of Hydra scum, it's to get information on whatever the hell you're doing. But, now, I'm thinking you don't want to talk."

"I'll talk," he said, "you're not superhero, you're Hydra. You were raised Hydra, you cannot-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up," she said.

"What are you going to do? Kill me," he peered at her, "you know it better than anyone, Bluebell, cut off one head and-"

_Bang_!

Adara put the handgun back in her belt, staring right at Pavlov, who now had a bullet in his brain.

She pulled her hair out of her face then sighed, "fucking Hydra, fucking weather."

She burst out suddenly into a coughing fit, before clearing her throat and looking around her. Three _probably _dead bodies. She had tried to cool it on the whole murder schtick since she had ran from Hydra. However, her mind and her mood were as changeable as the weather.

She sneezed again, cursed herself and decided it was time to head home.

* * *

"You're looking a little pale," said Steve.

"You look like shit," said Natasha.

"Thanks, guys," said Adara, who jumped when her toast popped up out of the toaster.

It was the next morning and Adara had looked in the mirror and realised how shitty she looked so had attempted to shift into a more normal looking person, which had backfired when she had sneezed and her abilities had caused her to instantly shift right back. She wasn't entirely sure what was wrong but she was going to blame it on staying out late last night. She had stumbled back home, walking through the front door an hour after curfew and had pretty much fell asleep before either Steve or Natasha could lecture her.

But the sleep had been strange and feverfull, and she had woken up feeling worse than ever.

Still, she had an English literature exam and work to do. Besides, rumour was was that there was going to be a fight today. And if there was one thing Adara hated more than school, it was sitting around and doing nothing all day.

"Shouldn't have stayed out so late last night," snarked Natasha.

"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes as she buttered a piece of toast rather clumsily while, simultaneously, trying to drink a cup of black coffee.

"Are you sure you want to go in today?" Steve looked slightly more concerned.

"I'm fine," she sat down at the table, "just feeling a bit… eh," she shrugged and took a bite of her toast. "Have they not cancelled school?"

"The snow pretty much melted this morning," said Natasha, "now it's just icy. And cold. Have fun walking to school."

"Have you ever felt any form of sympathy? Or empathy?" Adara glared.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, "dumb question."

"Where a coat," said Steve, "and gloves. You'll be fine."

"You say that," she muttered.

Her phone buzzed, a text from Harry telling her that, if she hurried up and met him on their usual corner, he could give her a lift the rest of the way. She jumped out of her seat, and then instantly got hit by a wave of nausea so she sat back down again.

"Are you alright?" Asked Steve.

"Yeah," she said, "stood up too quickly, that's all." though she still felt sick, "I'm gonna go now. See you after school."

* * *

"I haven't heard anything about Pavlov since last night," said Harry, "did you confront him?"

This is where it came down to it. Adara had two options here, lie or tell the truth. But how would Harry take the truth? Looking back on last night, she felt a lot of guilt. Killing people, it was something she had tried to move on from. But she had just been so pissed off last night that, when he had begun to say Hydra's infamous 'catchphrase,' she had just gone with her instincts and shot him. What difference did it make? He was a Hydra, with a messy history in child trafficking and assassinations of political leaders. And he had probably already been replaced.

So, really, what reason did she have to be guilty? Maybe it was because murder was still murder. Maybe it was only self-defence. Maybe she was just tired.

"You could say that," she said, "we had a talk."

Harry must've caught onto the fact that Adara was being vague on purpose, as he just went "oh."

They were at the lockers, Adara putting her pretty thin coat away while Harry checked his watch.

"Our English Literature exam is in one hour," said Harry.

"Uh-huh."

"Adara, are you okay?" He asked, "you look, no offence, awful."

"I'm fine," she said for what was the billionth time that day, "it's probably just a cold. I just got home late. And then didn't sleep great."

"No offense," he said, again, "but that's what you do most nights."

She glared at him.

"Okay, okay," he put his hands up in surrender, "shutting up now."

They began to walk to their English class, Adara having to blink a few time to get rid of the black spots dancing on the edge of her vision. God, she felt tired. And dizzy. Probably just the weather getting to her. That, or maybe it was her time of the month.

By the time it was lunch, she heard _that _same comment again.

"You're not looking great, Adara," said Peter, sitting down beside her at their usual table.

"I'm not feeling great," she sighed, "didn't sleep much."

"Maybe you should eat something?"

"I'm not that hungry," she said. It wasn't a lie, she wasn't hungry. But, she also felt like if she ate food, she was going to be sick.

"Did you hear?" Ned suddenly sat down across from them, clattering his tray down loudly, "did you hear?"

"You?" Winced Adara, "yeah, we heard you."

"Tyrone Lane just found out that his ex, Katy Saunders, had been cheating on him the entire time with Jackson Martìnez. He's on his way to the cantine right now to beat the shit out of Jackson who doesn't even know it's coming yet.

"Wait," Peter paused, "I thought Katy broke up with Tyrone because she caught him sleeping with Beth? Beth the senior?"

"Yes, but it turns out he wasn't cheating," Ned said, "it turns out that Katy's friend, Katherine, took a photo of Beth sleeping in bed with her boyfriend Jerome, who looks a bit like Tyrone. Then, Katherine sent it to Katy who didn't realise it was Jerome and thought it was Tyrone so broke up with him. But apparently it was just an excuse anyway so she could keep sleeping with Jackson without the guilt."

"My head hurts," said Peter.

"So there's going to be a fight?" Asked Adara, looking at Ned while sipping from an apple juice carton.

"Uh-huh," he nodded,

"Good," she said, "I've been waiting for this fight all week."

"You knew about all of this?" Peter looked at her.

She shrugged, "I like to keep an eye on things. Better to know the details in case I need to use it against them for blackmail. Or something along those lines."

"Any dirt on me?"

"Pete, I couldn't even force myself to dig up dirt on you even if there was any."

"That's either a compliment, or super patronising."

"Take it how you will."

"Oi, Jackson!" Yelled Tyrone. Or was it one of the other guys Ned had mentioned? Peter wasn't in sync enough with the school gossip to keep track of these kind of things. "Heard you were sleeping with my girl!"

At this point, most people in the cantine had either heard of the drama that was about to go down, or were just finding out about it through whispers. So, most people were up and out of their seats, standing on their tiptoes and peering over other people's heads to try and get a good view of what was going on. Adara dragged Peter up and shoved her way to the front of the crowd to get a better look.

The two guys were facing each other now, each with a friend at their shoulder probably to try and fruitlessly attempt to prevent a fight that they want to happen anyway for the sake of saying 'he's not worth it, man.'

"Guess she just liked me better in bed than you," said Jackson, which the crowd responded with an 'oooo.'

"Do you wanna go?" Tyrone glared, "because I can beat the shit out of you."

"Yeah, I'll go. I can take you."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty-"

Tyrone went first and suddenly everyone was cheering and chanting one name or another.

"Who are we supposed to be cheering?" Peter whispered to Adara, while jumping out of the way of the two wrestling boys on the ground.

"I don't know," said Adara.

Peter glanced at her. She was looking suddenly more pale than before, almost grey. She didn't even look like she was watching the fight she had been 'waiting for all week,' it didn't even look like she was staring at anything.

"Dara," he peered at her, "are you alright?"

"Huh?" She glanced at him, squinting like he was miles away, when he was right next to her. "Sorry, I'm just… I'm not…"

"Dara?"

She suddenly made a grab for him and, thank God for his spider senses or he wouldn't have moved as quickly as he did. He sort of awkwardly grabbed her by the arms first before kind of lowering her to the ground. It was no dramatic, television moment where the girl fainted into his arms. Adara was a mess, face damp from sweat and skin a pale-grey, and he was a teenage boy, panicking that his friend had just fainted.

The fight had stopped now, and the crowd had sort of backed away but were whispering to one another and staring at Adara. It was Harry who pushed his way forward, closely followed by Ned and Michelle, who watched rather idly.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Peter said, "she was fine one moment but then she went all pale and just passed out."

Adara seemed to come back to consciousness for a second. "Ow," she muttered, "why am I on the floor?"

"You passed out," said Peter.

"Peter caught you in his arms," said Harry, raising his eyebrows.

"Shut up, Osborne," she said and passed out again.

"Did you just annoy her into unconsciousness?" Asked Peter.

"It's been known to happen."

"Do we call the school nurse?"

"You've been here longer than me."

The two looked back at Ned who glanced back at Michelle who rolled her eyes.

"Okay, idiots, stand back, give her space," she said and all three boys complied.

She then proceeded to bend Adara's legs so her knees were pointing up. The movement seemed to wake Adara up again, as she was suddenly blinking at the lights.

"Lift your head up," said Michelle.

"Wha-?"

"Just do it."

The girl complied.

"Does anyone have any water?" Asked Michelle.

Someone from the crowd chucked a random plastic water bottle at her which Michelle caught with ease and then gave it to Adara, who looked at it for a second before taking a sip.

"Thanks," she muttered quietly to Michelle.

"Whatever," said Michelle, "you're the one dramatically fainting in front of everyone."

"I feel like I might do it again."

"Please don't."

Peter took this as a cue to step forward, "let's go see the nurse."

"I'm fine," she said.

"Uh-huh," he offered a hand.

She glared at it, took it and stumbled slightly, accidentally leaning into him. He pretended not to notice, but couldn't help but feel his cheeks go a little red.

* * *

An hour later, Adara was back in her own bed at home after passing out two more times in the nurse's office and then again when she had arrived back into the house.

Now, she had basically been dragged into a bed and kept flitting in and out of onciouss, but always remained slightly aware of her surroundings or, more accurately, whether her body was about to throw up her lunch or not. That, and she was very conscious of the damp cloth on her forehead that, while slightly annoying her, was doing good at keeping her face cool. As for the rest of the body, she felt like she was a million degrees.

She woke up at some point, and could just about make out the blurry shapes of Natasha and Steve sitting next to her, mid-conversation until they saw her awake.

"Still just feeling 'eh?'" Natasha looked at Adara.

"Whatever," said Adara, "I think it might be a concussion. Maybe brain damage."

"You already brain damaged."

"Shut up."

"How are you feeling?" Said Steve, trying to be nice, before getting a glare from Adara, which pretty much told him the answer. "You did pass out in front of the entire school, from what I'm told."

"That's embarrassing," she muttered, "I'm never going to live that down."

"They will have forgotten about it by tomorrow."

Next to him, Natasha was shaking his head.

"In other news," began the redhead, rather tentatively, "there's been some news going round last night of a recently discovered Hydra agent, Pavlov or something being found dead." Steve shot her a look to say 'really, right now?' But Natasha went on anyway.

"Bluebell did it."

"You are the Bluebell."

"Oh yeah."

It was difficult to tell if she was joking, pretending or genuinely forgot which, in her state, wouldn't be surprising.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to, it just happened. He was annoying me. They hit me round the head," that would explain the concussion, "and I just- sorry."

She put her head back on the pillow. Steve glanced at Natasha, who looked at Adara and sighed.

"It's fine," she said, "just, go get more rest. We'll leave you alone now."

As Steve closed the bedroom door behind him, he looked at Natasha.

"Is it bothering you?" He asked, "that she killed someone?"

"It's not the most surprising thing she's done," said Natasha, "and I guess it's wrong to make excuses, but he was only a Hydra agent who, for some reason, thought it would be a good idea to annoy a teenager after hitting her round the head despite that he knew she'd been trained to kill. Plus, again, he was Hydra. It's not exactly any one's loss. And the media doesn't seem to be attacking her for it."

"But…" Steve got the hint that there was more.

"I'm not going to lecture her," said Natasha, "I've been in her position. I am in her position. I know what it's like to kill people and then have it on your mind. She's going to feel shitty about it anyway."

"So, no lecture?"

"Sorry," she placed a hand on his shoulder, smirking again, "I know you get antsy without a daily lecture."

"It's not every day," he denied, "and you act like I go on at her all the time."

Natasha looked at him.

"It's not _all _the time!"

Meanwhile, Adara was stirred again by the sound of her phone going off. She checked to see who had sent her a message on top of all the 'hope you're feeling better' texts she had gotten off everyone else. It had been Harry, who had sent her a low-quality gif of a woman dramatically collapsing into a man's arms. She rolled her eyes and sent him back a 'shut up' before turning her phone off. She couldn't help but smile a little to herself though.

* * *

**A/N: Is it obvious I didn't know how to end this? I didn't know how to end it. Anyway I definitely did not just write this chapter so I could have the scene of Adara fainting and Peter catching her. Nope, definitely not. **

**Anyway, sorry again that this took so long to come out! It'll get even slower from here thanks to GCSEs but they're going well so far! Let's just hope it stays that way. **

**The next chapter will be a suggestion I got from the first chapter but please please gimme suggestions for anything y'all wanna see!**


	4. Matter Phase Shifter

**A/N: Hello, brief reappearance from me to post this one shot which acts as a sort of prelude to the 'Adara arc.' You know the one where she gets wiped? Yeah, that one. Sorry I've been pretty much radio silent as of late, truthfully I've lost interest in the MCU and have only really wanted to write my current original works. This was a nice break though, and I have missed Adara. Anyway, hope you enjoy this little bit of fun action!**

* * *

**Matter Phase Shifter**

_December 15th, 2016_

_The Avengers Compound_

"Okay," started Tony, in his dressing gown, holding a massive mug of coffee at three in the morning. "Please tell me exactly how it is that you both end up half drowned in the East-River at midnight along with half a train and about twenty Hydra foot soldiers and a hundred crates of alien missiles."

Adara and Peter, who were both in their superhero get-up, and dripping river water onto the kitchen floor, exchanged a nervous glance at each other.

"I promise, Mr Stark," said Peter, "there's a perfectly reasonable explanation."

"I cannot _wait _to hear it."

"Well," Adara began, "we were at a Star Wars convention—"

"What?"

"I swear, it'll make sense at some point."

* * *

_About six hours earlier_

_2100hrs_

"This is the biggest Star Wars convention ever held in Queens," said Peter, "in a fancy hotel, with a bunch of producers as well as some of the actors attending and we're only here because of a mission."

This was about the third time Peter had lamented this fact today, and Adara was beginning to grow real sick of his attitude. It was already bad enough that she was having to pretend to be a stupid nerd who liked some stupid nerd movie (however she did secretley like Star Wars, not that she'd ever tell Peter or Ned that), it was _already _bad enough that she had to dress in this ridiculous costume and had about thirty pervy old men dressed as bad Han Solos try to flirt with her, it was _already bad enough _that she had stayed up all night to get this information, and then spend the day in school and had to go to this stupid convention while being completely exhausted. The last thing she needed was her boyfriend winging in her ear that he couldn't spend more time looking at merchandise for a movie series that he already knew inside out.

"Pete, I'm about five seconds away from breaking your teeth in," she said.

"I'd like to see you try. I drink lots of calcium, my teeth are remarkably strong. My dentist agrees."

"Your dentist is stupid."

"Mr Morrison is a very nice man."

"Peter."

"Sorry," he said, "I just don't get why we had to go to this convention. We could've just waited at the train station for the train to arrive and then hop on. It would be a lot safer that way and I wouldn't have to experience this FOMO."

"Huh?"

"Fear of Missing Out."

"You're here aren't you?"

"Yes, but it's not the same," he said. "It's really uncomfortable to have to wear my spiderman suit underneath this Han Solo costume. It's really warm."

Silently, Adara agreed with him on that. She was currently disguised (or 'cosplaying' as Peter had corrected her) as Princess Leia in her stupid white dress as it was the only thing that covered her black Bluebell suit underneath, as well as allowing her to hide all of her various knives. However, it was impractical in the sense that she was extremely warm underneath the dress, and her hair was done up in two tight space buns which she thought looked stupid.

"This hotel gives us the perfect vantage point for you to swing us down on top of the train," she said. "The train station is currently being heavily guarded by about twenty Hydra soldiers. I'd rather not get in their way."

The information Abaddon had disclosed to her informed her of a train that was leaving the station at about half nine at night, carrying several crates of dangerous alien technology (manufactured by the now arrested Adrian Toomes) that were to be transported up through New York to Canada, and then through to Alaska to some undisclosed Hydra base. Naturally, she had no interest in letting that happen. However, they couldn't just book a ticket and climb on board the train.

"After the incident with Abbadon last month Hydra expects us to intervene," said Adara. "They've got people looking out for us all along the rail line, at the station. If we're disguised as comic book nerds, they won't suspect a thing. Though, in your case I suppose it's hardly a disguise rather than your natural state of being."

"It's hardly nerdy to like Star Wars, Dara. It's literally one of the most popular film franchises on the planet."

"I thought the Princess Diaries was the most popular?"

"You really need to stop believing everything that MJ tells you about pop culture. She's almost always lying."

"Well, the Princess Diaries was better anyway," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

"How is the fact that you two were arguing about movies relevant to this story," said Tony, who was now sitting at the breakfast counter, drinking his second mug of coffee.

"You seemed confused about the Star Wars convention thing," Adara shrugged, still twisting her hair to get the last of the damp water out of it. "We were just filling you in."

"This is still utterly ridiculous," he said with a sigh, "but, okay. You were waiting for a train, right? Why not wait for it at the station and sneak on. Despite how loud Spider-Boy here can be—"

"Hey!"

"He can be stealthy when he wants to be," finished Tony. "Not to mention Hydra doesn't know that he's Peter Parker. You and him could've just strolled into that station. Him as himself, you shifted into someone else."

"My intel told me that Luka would be at the station overseeing the process," she said, "he can almost always see through me."

"You tricked him at Abaddon's penthouse."

"Luka wasn't so hyper-cautious then," she said, "besides, to pull the trick with the eye contacts would be weak. He wouldn't fall for it again."

"I'm not entirely comfortable just walking into a train station filled with Hydra agents anyway," Peter put in, "as Peter Parker or Spiderman. I don't want anyone tying the identities together."

"You just wanted to avoid Luka," Tony pointed out.

"Well, duh," Adara rolled her eyes.

He sighed, glancing between the two of them.

"Okay," he said, "what happened next?"

* * *

The convention was being held in the lobby and hall of a big hotel, most of the guests staying overnight _were _convention guests or the people running it, a few of them were in Queens on business or other. Either way, it was a big hotel, very tall as it had to accommodate a lot of people at any given time, and Adara and Peter needed to get to the roof.

"They're only letting people in if they've booked hotel rooms," said Adara. "You know, to stop convention guests wandering into their friends' rooms and doing ten lines of coke."

"Do Star Wars fans do coke?"

"That guys dressed as Jabba the Hutt definitely did."

"Okay," he glanced around. "So, what's the plan? You distract the guard by the elevator by saying someone has died or something while I use Karen to override the functions of the elevator and let us up without a keycard."

Adara tipped her head to the side, almost impressed, "not bad, Pete. I guess I am rubbing off on you."

"Thanks, I guess."

"But while that's nice and all," she said, "we could just use these room cards I stole off of an arguing couple earlier."

"Way to steal the moment."

"We could still go with your plan if you want."

"Let's just get up the elevator."

* * *

"You're still pickpocketing?" Tony frowned, finishing his second mug of coffee.

"Not actively," she said with a shrug, "but it's a skill you never forget."

She held up Tony's wallet with a flourish and a grin.

He glared at her, Peter sighed.

"Can we just continue with the story?" He said.

* * *

The roof was technically only to be accessed by the janitor only, but the janitor was busy elsewhere in the hotel, and Peter had enough strength that breaking a lock on a door was like tearing apart a wet paper towel. Both of them stripped of their cosplay to reveal their superhero suits underneath, Peter fitted on his mask, hiding his face and Adara shifted to her blue-formed self. With a quick nod, the door to the roof was down, and they emerged to the dark sky and city lights, a cool breeze across their face.

Adara walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down. Directly below them were a couple of low buildings, no more tha three or so stories, and a road and then the train tracks, on a raised bridge that went over the road and any buildings below it.

"The train should've arrived at the station a couple of hours ago," said Adara, "they should've already finished loading everything on board and, if I'm right, it should be preparing to depart five minutes from now."

She bit her lip, nervous that they were already too late. They had one opportunity to stop this train and the weapons it carried, if it got out of the state then, sure, Adara could inform someone else to try and stop it, but Adara trusted herself and Peter more than anyone else in this situation. She gave Peter the briefest of nods and he stepped towards the edge and glanced down the tracks, the feature of Karen built into his mask would mean he would be able to zoom and enhance the image of what was down the tracks. Hopefully…

"The train is still there," he said. "I can see the lights."

"Good," she let out a breath.

It was reassuring, not just that they were on time, but that their information was correct.

"Can you make the swing from here carrying both of us?"

He made a quick judgement of the distance, glancing up from where he was crouched."sure. It won't be a problem. You weigh about the same as a puppy to me."

"That's all any girl wants to hear," she smirked and leaned against his back, resting her chin on his head. "We've got to make sure we can stop the train without hurting anyone."

"I once tried to stop a moving train dead in its tracks. It didn't go well."

Adara let out a thoughtful hum and let her eyes travel along the tracks. One way was further into the city, further into Queens and, in the distance, Brooklyn and then down through Long Island too, all of which were just sparkling lights far away. Up the other way was across the East River, further into Manhattan and then the Bronx and then the states that lay beyond and further. This train had a long journey to make a few stops, of course because it's focus was on transporting weapons not people. The only people it carried along its course were soldiers, a small army left to guard the crates. Adara didn't know how many, but her focus was less on stopping them than it was on stopping the train.

"We're pretty good at solving bad situations on the fly," she pointed out.

"You're saying we improvise?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

* * *

"Are you kidding me?" Tony grabbed a glass out of one of the cupboards.

"Shut it, Iron-Brain," Adara said. "We're not done."

* * *

"Adara," said Peter. "The train's coming."

The two of them stood up and back for a second, swallowing.

"The train is going to go by quickly," she said. "This has to be perfectly timed."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course," she laughed. "We've done crazier shit than this before."

He smiled and pulled her close to him by her waist, she wrapped her arms around him and held on for dear life. She had gone swinging around the city before, but they had never done so to the extent where they had to land precisely on top of a moving train. But, she was confident in Peter's abilities. Hell, he was the only reason she hadn't died in an elevator accident a few months ago after he climbed to the top of the Washington Monument. Not to mention having a building dropped down on top of them.

She swallowed, a train was nothing.

"Ready?" He asked in a low voice.

"As ever," was her reply, followed by a slightly fearful swallow.

Adara was fearless, or at least that's what she liked to think and what she told other people, but jumping from the roof of a hotel with nothing but a boyfriend to hold on was enough to take anyone's breath away. Adara knew she was practically weightless to Peter, and the likeliness of him dropping her was low considering his powers mainly revolved around him being sticky, but she maintained her death grip on him and tried not to look as the wind whipped around them. She could feel Peter moving and swinging, and it felt as if they were near-flying for ages (the dizzying feeling in her head and stomach told her that), but then Adara heard the sound of a loud, heavy train below.

Her eyes snapped open and her form tightened. For a horrible moment, she thought their feet would land on nothing, but then her boots thunked against the metal of a train roof.

She dropped into a crouch to steady herself, and Peter stayed next to her, one hand gripping her shoulder to steady her. She squinted against the wind flying against the force of the train going the opposite direction, her hair billowed and she tucked the blue locks behind her ears. They had landed towards the front of the train, she dusted off her suit and stood up fully.

"Nice landing," she said, trying not to sound out of breath.

"You were terrified."

"Correction," she said, "I was wary."

"Right," he said doubtfully. "We need to get off this train top."

Adara frowned, looking around as Queens whizzed by them, apartment blocks, roads and stores, the hotel they leapt off now far behind them. An idea struck her.

"We need to get to the front of the train."

"You have a plan?"

"The semblance of one."

* * *

"You know the phrase 'I have a plan' is already terrifying enough coming from Adara," Tony inserted himself back in the conversation, now with a glass of whiskey (on the rocks). "But the 'semblance of one?' That's enough to strike fear into the hearts of the bravest men."

"Tell me about it," said Peter, now upside down on the ceiling. "Try hearing that on top of a train moving at a hundred miles an hour."

"You jumped off a building, Pete!" She retorted from where she was lying on the couch.

"I do that everyday."

"And people call me insane."

"So," Tony said, "what exactly was this 'semblance of a plan' then?"

* * *

The front of the train was manned by three men, two armed but one concentrating on the driving. Adara and Peter needed to make sure the guards didn't alert anyone else on the train to their presence, and thus they had to be quick.

Two windows into the front of the train.

Adara eyed Peter. They had both worked together enough in the past to not have to do the countdown. Both of them were perfectly in sync when they crashed through the window, sending glass shards flying and landed on top of the armed men in the front carriage. Adara placed her knee on the neck of her man, and stole his refile and knocked him out with the butt of the gun.

Adara then aimed the gun at the driver.

"Sorry for crashing in on your evening," she said, tone as merry as can be. "Now, you wouldn't make this easier for me by just stepping back from that button you're planning on pressing?"

The driver froze.

"I will not hesitate to shoot you in the head," she went on. "Or maybe in the stomach, that's actually more painful depending on how many vital organs I can hit."

He stepped back.

"Oh, thank you," her smile could cause birds to fall from trees, "now, you wouldn't be a dear and slow down the train. Just a tad, not so its noticable."

Visibly confused, but with a sensible fear of automatic rifles, he pulled on the lever next to him, and then raised his hands in the air, stepping away. At that exact same moment, Peter shot a web over his mouth and stuck his hands to the train wall.

"Nice," Adara said, throwing the rifle over her shoulder (just in case).

Peter webbed up the two knocked out guards on the floor to be safe, and walked over to the control board, glancing over it.

"It says there are twelve carriages attached, including this one," he said, "nine of them are carrying guarded cargo. And then two just contain men. Hydra foot soldiers. But I don't understand," he looked up at her as she stood by her shoulder. "Why slow the train?"

"So we approach Hell Gate bridge slower."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it," she said, "I know what I'm doing. But I've got a strategy, it involves a lot of stealth."

"If anyone finds you out, those men in the last two carriages will bring down a storm."

The two of them looked at each other at the same time.

"I can decouple the carriages," he said. "You verify the cargo. Try not to get caught or do anything stupid."

"Sometimes I can't help it."

"Dara," he said with a stern tone that wasn't actually that stern at all.

She just gave him a sweet smile and pecked him on the cheek (of his mask, it wasn't the most romantic action, but it was the thought that counts).

"I'll be fine," she said, "so will you. Take the roof."

* * *

"I'm not seeing where this plan is going," said Tony.

"Then you're denser than the media makes you out to be," Adara shrugged. "Anyway, as I was saying..."

* * *

Peter could focus on decoupling the train carriages, which meant he could simply use the roof to traverse the length of the train. How on Earth one decoupled a carriage from a train without blowing it up, Adara wasn't sure, but Peter tended to be brainier than she was, he'd probably figure it out. She, however, didn't have the luxury of gamboling about the roof.

She made her way down the front carriage to the door to the next one. Holding her breath, she pressed herself against the wall and knocked on the door. Once, quiet. Twice, louder. No response. With that, she opened the door and slid into the carriage, making sure to close it again behind her quietly. In front of her, she could see stacks of crates, numbered but not labelled with what they contained other than a _fragile _warning. She ignored them for a moment, edging around them and listening out. She heard two voices, two men, keeping low, she snuck around another crate to see two men playing cards with each other, clearly bored on their shift. Hydra.

Frowning, she moved back, staying hidden behind a tall stack of boxes, and then knocked her foot against one of the crates.

"Did you hear that?" Asked one Hydra foot soldier.

"Hear what?"

"I don't know, I'm gonna check it out though. Better to be safe than sorry."

Adara heard footsteps moving to where she was, she stayed perfectly still, crouched low to the ground. The foot soldier moved around the crates that were blocking her from views, armed with his gun but not actively looking for anything to shoot.

"It was probably just a rat," said his buddy.

"Yeah, probably."

He turned to move back, and Adara leapt from the shadows. She clamped a hand around the soldier's mouth and an arm around his neck, pulling tightly against his neck. He spluttered in surprise, but was quickly silenced by Adara quietly shushing him. Five seconds past, then another two seconds.

His buddy finally noticed the sudden silence, "hey, you alright?"

Adara kept her hand clamped tightly around his mouth. Two more seconds passed, the man went limp and Adara lowered him to the ground.

"Oi, Davis?" His buddy was getting to his feet now. "What the hell? Did you find something?"

He looked around, but couldn't see what had happened to his foot soldier. And then something hit him around the back of the head, and he crumpled onto the ground, knocking over the table he had been playing cards on.

Adara dusted her hands and rolled the unconscious body onto his back, inspecting him for a second before her body shifted to become a duplicate of him. She then took his uniform, a grey military jacket, hat and trousers. She left their rifles considering she already had one which she had stolen earlier, and pulled out a knife.

She knelt in front of a crate and dug her knife into the nails keeping them shut, pulling them out. The lid of the crate came off, and she pushed it out of the way, glancing inside. Some kind of weapon, maybe a missile launcher, but it looked strange, modern, alien. It was familiar, it was just one type of the weapons that Toomes had been busted for selling.

"Bingo," she muttered to herself.

She wrenched open a couple more crates, finding more of the missile-type weapons, as well as some lighter guns that were either laser or blast related. Some of them were remnants of the New York battle, others picked up from Sokovia and what was left of Ultron's bots, Adara wouldn't be so surprised if she found some stolen Vibranium in there too. She frowned, not finding what she was looking for, her plan relied on it.

Now that she was shifted, it made things much easier. She entered the next carriage, and the two men hadn't batted an eye as she had walked over to them, and there was only a moment of confusion until they were both unconscious on the floor. She checked the crates, more dangerous weapons, but not the one she was specifically looking for. She let out a huff of annoyance.

This pattern continued through the next two coaches, and then the others after that. Until she reached the eighth carriage, and she had once again taken out the two men guarding the cargo with little effort (the good thing about the train being so loud on the tracks and her path being so linear was that it was easy to take people out without anyone else on train noticing. Sure, they had walkie talkies to alert each other of anything, but what good was that if you were unconscious?). She pulled out her knife again and wrenched a crate open.

"Gotcha," she said and lifted out the weapon.

* * *

"Which weapon is this?" Asked Tony, now on his next glass of whiskey (_not _on the rocks this time). "Toomes made a lot of crazy shit, what is it you were looking for?"

"You know his portal gun?"

"No."

"It wasn't a portal gun," said Peter. "It was a Matter Phase Shifter. Toomes had a weapon that allowed him to separate the intermolecular molecules in walls and objects. Or, in this case it literally allowed him to phase through matter. Its how he would steal technology without being noticed. It's also how I got trapped in that truck when I was trying to stop him in Maryland. It separates the molecules in walls or floors to create an opening or a hole to whatever might be inside."

"Wait, that is familiar," said Tony. "But I'm confused on why on Earth you would need something like that."

"In all fairness," Peter put in, "I didn't know what the hell she was planning at this point."

"You'll just have to wait and see," Adara said with that killer smile plastered on her face once again.

* * *

She inspected the weapon. A portal gun (or, she supposed in retrospective it was a '_Matter Phase Shifter' _which was a dumb name). Exactly what she needed, but not yet, she left on top of the crate where she could quickly grab it on the way back, and went to go take down guarding the last carriage with cargo. If all had gone to plan, Peter should be working on decoupling the carriages, which would get rid of Hydra's back-up.

She slipped into the carriage, its layout similar to the last ones. Lots of crates, all labelled fragile and stacked up high on top of each other. As Adara was still shifted into a Hydra footsoldier, she walked through the carriage with ease, her knife tucked up her sleeve. She gave a lazy nod to the two foot soldiers in the carriage.

The first one frowned, "Smith? Aren't you supposed to be up top with Davis?"

The second one glanced up, "is this to do with the train slowing?"

"The train slowed down?" Adara played dumb.

"I didn't realise either," he said. "The General informed me. Hold on—" He pressed a finger to his ear, he had a comm in there, "yes, General? No, sir, I have no idea. Smith is here now I can send him up front to ask what's going on."

Adara swallowed, knowing exactly who the second soldier was communicating with, but she couldn't waste time. She just had to put her faith in Peter having decoupled the trains.

"Smith," said the second soldier, "the General wants to talk to you."

"I lost my comm."

He looked annoyed, but just huffed and went, "here, use mine."

Adara took it off him without saying thank you and fitted the comm into her own ear, not quite as small and functional as the ones from Stark industries.

"_Smith_?" Came the familiar voice of her father.

Instantly, Adara punched the second Hydra footsoldier in the face.

* * *

"Seriously?" Tony had moved on to a whole bottle of rum now.

"His voice is extremely grating," said Adara. "You can't blame me."

"Hold on," said Peter, looking at her accusingly. "You never told me that you were communicating with Luka. when I saw you again, I thought you were just talking to Harry. Why didn't you say?"

"You didn't ask, you shouldn't just presume these things."

"Wait," Tony held up his hand. "You _continued _to communicate with Luka? _Why_?"

"Um," Adara frowned thoughtfully. "To gloat."

Tony put his face in his hands, "Jesus Christ."

* * *

Adara had the two Hydra footsoldiers down in an instant, she took a step back, knife in one hand and shifted back into herself, or her Bluebell self. Though, she kept on the military uniform, too lazy to take it off.

"_Adara,_" greeted Luka. "_If you wanted to say hi, you just had to say so, no need to be so dramatic._"

She took a breath and closed her eyes in annoyance, half considering ripping the com from her ear and using the heels of her boots to destroy it.

"You've lost," she said.

"_Have I?_" Came his cool tone. "_I have two carriages filled with about twenty men._"

"Twenty? I like those odds."

"_Anywhere else I might believe you, but on a moving train with twenty guns aimed at you in an enclosed space. I just can't see it happening."_

"Call in your back-up then," she said. "See what they can do."

There was a loud screech and Adara ran to the back of the train to see a red shape flying out the way as the two back carriages of the train suddenly fell away from the back of the train, the metal chains and clips that had once been connecting way now dragging against the rail lines, sending up sparks.

"Nice going!" Exclaimed Adara, looking up at Peter.

He was about to say something when one man kicked open the door to the front of the disconnected carriage and began shooting. Adara ducked out of range, but his focus was on Spiderman, she yelled up to him.

"Get to the front of the train! I'll meet you there!"

He nodded, and then for good measure used a gun to pull the weapon out of the Hydra soldier's hand and vanished. Adara closed the door to the carriage, which was now the very back of the train. Luka must've had some way of remotely keeping an eye on the train, as his voice was suddenly in her ear again.

"_Very clever_," he remarked.

"Not so tough now, are you?"

"_Of course not_," he said. "_I suppose you have me defeated. However, while you slowed the train, you can't stop it. It will reach its destination. And let me tell you, I've decided to change its next stop to be just across the East River, where a small army will be waiting for you_."

Adara did love to gloat, and it was almost disappointing that Luka couldn't see the smirk of pure wickedness that overcame her features. He seemed to sense the arrogant cockiness in her silence.

"_But you've got a plan_," he said.

"Like you said," she shrugged. "I'm very clever."

She ran back to the carriage she'd been in earlier and grabbed the phase matter shifter, jumping over the unconscious bodies of the soldiers as she went. Adara knew that knocking out the Hydra soldiers and hijacking the train weren't so important, not when technology was good enough to remotely control this train. If Luka was telling the truth and she couldn't stop the train, there was one _other _way she could stop it.

She smashed the window in the carriage with a knife and clambered back on top of the roof of the train. Peter was there, offering a hand, she took it and he hauled her up, and then glanced at the weapon confused. She just shot him a wink.

As fast as her legs could carry her on a swaying train, she ran to the front carriage, crouching down at the front of it. Hell's Gate bridge was approaching frighteningly quick, despite the fact that Adara had already slowed down the train. It connected Queens to Randall's bridge over the East River. But Adara was not going to let this train cross over land ever again.

"What are you doing?" Asked Peter, voice high-pitched in the way that it was when it was nervous. "Please tell me you've got a plan."

Adara shifted her weight so the phase matter shifter rested on her shoulder and raised the dial on its side (which she didn't really understand what was for) to full and said a silent prayer to her mother, God and any other deities that would listen to her.

"Let's see," she said, half to Luka and half to Peter, "if alien weapons are waterproof."

"Adara!" And the yell came from both Peter and Luka, but she blocked them out.

She fired the matter shifter at the centre of Hell's Gate bridge, and a hole appeared right in the middle of it; through the layers of steel, bolts and the railway on top. And the train kept trucking at full speed towards it, the wind roared in her ears and she heard herself curse, and Peter yell her name.

And then her stomach dropped. The next few seconds were a blur, but she felt the icy cold rush of water as she hit it, and her body naturally stiffened in shock and pain at the impact before logic took over two seconds. She kicked up to the surface, coughing and spluttering and shouted, not a word or anything, just shouted to alert Peter to where she was. Sure enough, a second later, a web had dragged her out the water, just as a train carriage crashed down on where she had been paddling.

Peter was dangling from a web from the underneath of the bridge, Adara had her arm looped around his shoulder as he had a strong hand holding her up by her waist.

"You are _insane_," he hissed.

"Wait," she said and used the steel beams of the underneath bridge to pull herself up.

With help from Peter, she was able to get into a sitting position on top of the beams, and gestured to the water.

"The phase matter shifter," was all she said.

He glanced to where she pointed, and then back at her. Rolling his eyes under his mask, he dived on top of a sinking train carriage and then vanished underwater for a moment. Adara took a moment to survey the destruction. The bridge, aside from the perfect hole in the centre, was intact. The train however, was mostly underwater, Adara could see the reddish-brown paint of the carriage's just below the dark water. Some were still balancing on top, but slowly sinking down. There was no over the top explosion, just a slow destruction as the train sank further and further out of sight.

Peter emerged, suit soaked wet with the phase matter shifter in one hand. He hoisted himself on top of a not-quite-sunken train carriage, and aimed the weapon at the bridge. There was a loud zapping sound and the hole in the bridge closed up, like it was never there in the first place. Adara let out a loud sigh of relief as Peter pulled himself up to crouch down on the steel beside her.

"Are you alright?" Adara asked.

He nodded, out of breath, "fine. Just soaked. You?"

She let out a sound of agreement and reached for the comm in her ear. It was broken after she had dunked herself underwater, which was a shame as she would've liked to continue to gloat, but picturing the anger on his face when he realised that all of his alien tech was now at the bottom of the East River was good enough.

"I guess we're gonna get in trouble for this," said Adara, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Probably," he said, "so we're probably not going to be allowed to go back to the Star Wars convention."

"No," Adara eyed the destroyed train. "No definitely not."

* * *

"And then—"

"Yes, I know what happens from there," sighed Tony. "I get a call from Ross about a train mysteriously falling into the East River and have to fly on over in a Quinjet. You know how much shit you two would've gotten into if it had been Ross and his men who had found you? Especially you, Adara, you're still wanted!"

"But we didn't," pointed out Adara.

"That's hardly the point."

Peter stepped in, "Mr Stark, we're sorry. But we had to intervene to stop those weapons from falling into the wrong hands."

Tony glanced between the two teenagers, Peter with a slightly sheepish grin on his face, looking up at him as he sat on top of the kitchen counter as if his sorrowful expression would make Tony instantly tell them that it was all okay. It was working, Tony would admit, he had a soft spot for the boy, he just had a kind heart and he never did anything for the wrong reason. On the other hand, there was Adara. She was also sitting on the kitchen counter, leant back slightly, a smirk on her face and challenge in her eyes. Adara _usually_ wanted to do the right thing, which led to her making stupid decisions but it _usually _turned out okay. The girl had some kind of guardian angel looking down at her at all times. However, sometimes Adara's good intentions got… Muddled. Tony wouldn't have even considered this if Adara hadn't told him that she had spoken to Luka through an earpiece specifically to _gloat_.

When it came to Hydra, Adara trying to stop them was a good thing. But it got dangerous, especially when her motives were less _doing the right thing _and more _I have to get revenge on Hydra and shove it in Luka's face_.

He sighed and took another swig from his bottle.

"You two kids will be the death of me, I swear," he let out a breath. "I'm not pissed at you for stopping the weapons from getting to the Hydra base. I just think your methods… Could be a little better."

"We got the intel late," was Adara's quick response. She didn't like being told she was wrong. "We have no choice. There was no choice."

"You crashed a train full of alien weapons into the East River!"

"So? We stopped Hydra, isn't that what matters."

"You just… You just need to be wary," said Tony. "There are consequences to these things."

"Ross didn't find us," said Peter. "It turned out fine."

_This time_, thought Tony.

"Besides," Adara shrugged, "you do stupid shit all the time."

"I'm an adult, Adara," he said. "You're both still kids. I don't want either of you being locked in the raft before your even eighteen. Ross already is uncertain about you, Peter, and he _hates _the Bluebell. It'll just take one more incident like this to push things over the edge."

Adara's expression turned skeptical, green eyes narrowing and studying him in the eerily invasive way they did sometimes. Peter, on the other hand, gave a sheepish sigh. Genuinely regretful, but probably more because he was being told off than him actually being regretful over anything in specific.

"We'll try and be more careful next time," he said and glanced at Adara who gave a half-hearted shrug of agreement.

"You can spend the night here," Tony said, "I'll call your aunt. Adara, do you want me to call Norman?"

"Norman's not even aware of where I am half the time," she said, "he wouldn't notice if I'm gone a whole week, let alone one night. I've already texted Harry."

"Right," Tony gave a cautious nod and then glanced at Peter. "You might want to head up for the night, kid, I need a word with Adara."

"I—" Began Peter.

"Alone," he said. "And don't look so devastated. It's not like you two should be sharing rooms."

Peter went red, Adara laughed.

Once the boy had gone upstairs, Adara hopped off the counter to sit beside Tony at the kitchen table. She made a reach for his drink but he pulled it away from her and instead pushed a freshly made mug of coffee in her direction. With an annoyed huff, she drank it anyway.

"So what's this about?" She said. "I need a shower because I smell like the pissing river and you're still looking at me in the way Steve does when he gets antsy. And I call _him _the old man."

Tony raised an eyebrow. Her expression got serious.

"Come on, Tony, what's bothering you. It can't still be Ross."

"It's Hydra," he said. "I've noticed that along with this and the Abbadon incident last month, you've been getting in their way a lot as of late."

"Yeah. They've been trying to get a hold of Toomes' weapons. I know what Hydra can do, I have to stop them."

"Hydra might be weaker," said Tony. "But they're still dangerous. And I wouldn't worry so much if you didn't make it so personal."

Her expression hardened a little, "of course it's personal. My parents— Luka— I—" She paused a moment, annoyed at her own stumbling over words. "It's always going to be personal," she began slowly, "Hydra is the reason most of my life has been awful. But I know what they're like. I can't let them get their hands on these weapons."

"You have good intentions, Adara," he said, "I just worry that you mix it up with revenge."

"The two crossover," she said quietly, tone bitter. "I know what you think, but I'm not stupid. I can seperate the two in my mind."

"I know you're not stupid, Adara," he said. "I just… You know Hydra better than me or anyone else. That's what makes you such a threat against them, that's how you stop them. But what if they decide you're too much of a threat, what if they decide to get off their asses and do something about it?"

From the way Adara's expression faltered for a second, it was clear that she hadn't put much thought into it. What Tony said was true, Adara understood more about Hydra than anyone did, they had practically raised her. Which also meant Adara understood the consequences of her actions better than Tony could, and while Hydra were considerably weaker nowadays they were still out there. Her fingers drummed the kitchen counter, and Tony could see her brain working behind her eyes as she sat silently for the next minute.

Then, "Luka won't kill me. He's… He can get tied up in sentimentality, that's why Pierce wanted me dead. Luka didn't let me die then, he won't now."

Tony didn't doubt it.

"I didn't say Luka though," he pointed out, "I said Hydra. Luka is the leader of Hydra, but he doesn't represent the whole of Hydra."

Adara looked at him for a few long seconds, expression unreadable, and then she stood up, mug of coffee only half finished.

"I need to shower," she cleared her throat. "I'm tired."

She made to leave.

"Just try to lay low," he said, "at least for the next few weeks. I'm just thinking of your own safety Adara."

She threw one last look at him over her shoulder, fiery green eyes piercing through the dim light, and then vanished up the stairs without another word.

* * *

**A/N: And le fin! I do have a couple more one-shots in the work, one mainly revolving around more of Luka's backstory and Adara's childhood. But if any of you have any ideas or character interactions you want to see, feel free to mention in a review! Also, I now have a twitter where I tweet about books and stuff. Feel free to follow at starvokbrekker on twitter if you have one! You don't have to though, obviously lol. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, I'll leave with an incorrect quote for old times' sake.**

**Adara: What's your greatest fear?**

**Harry: A year ago, I threw a boomerang. It has yet to come back.**

**Adara: …**

**Harry: I live in constant fear.**

_**Okay one more**_

**Steve, back from a mission: Well, the house is still standing.**

**Adara: I'm sensing you're surprised.**

**Steve: Well, I'm not trying to hide it.**

_**ONE MORE, only because I miss it**_

**Adara: So apparently the 'bad vibes' I've been feeling are actually 'severe psychological distress.'**


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